This App Will Tell You if Your Makeup Has Been Tested on Animals

In March 2013, my time spent living Paris was made even better when I read the news that

animal testing had been banned on all cosmetics produced and sold in the EU. As someone who had recently adopted both a vegan diet and an animal testing-free beauty routine, I was elated, yes—but also frustrated. While it was awesome that such a large chunk of the luxury industry was now mandated to these standards, I knew in just a matter of weeks I would return to my home country, the U.S., with its thousands of labs that do animal testing.

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Fortunately, it wasn't too long before I was able to find a resource that could help me in my hunt for beauty products that stood up to my ethics: Cruelty-Cutter, a product-scanning app launched by the Beagle Freedom Project. BFP, which is named for the fact that 96 percent of the roughly 65,000 dogs that die in U.S. animal experimentation labs each year are beagles, spends most of its time staging rescues in labs across the country, placing the survivor dogs (which are often emotionally and physically traumatized) with adoptive and foster families. Then, to make their fight against animal testing even more widespread, BFP developed the Cruelty-Cutter app, which operates on an important assumption: If people have easy access to who does animal testing, they'll have an easier time choosing not to buy animal-tested products, and then maybe those products—and testing itself—will eventually cease to exist.

Courtesy of Beagle Freedom Project

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The way the app works is straightforward: While shopping, you simply scan the barcode of a beauty product you're considering, and the app tells you whether the brand tests on animals. Those who so choose can take it a step further by sharing the info via social media, earning "Doggy Dollars" which can then be used as coupons towards other products that weren't tested on animals.

Though the app became available last spring, it just recruited a significant spokesperson from the high fashion world, model Catherine McNeil. The Aussie's illustrious, seven-year career has kept her busy—in addition to campaigns for Dolce & Gabbana, Hugo Boss, and Versace, she has walked for virtually every major fashion house—but she has remained a loyal proponent of animal rights, and a volunteer and supporter to BFP since discovering the organization via Facebook a few years ago. (As the owner of a beloved Beagle, Harvey, she was struck by BFP's MO.) "I felt compelled to get involved in any way I could, so I reached out to the team there," she told us this week. "We've been working on projects and raising awareness together ever since." Kevin Chase, Beagle Freedom Project vice president, notes that her support also gives the app a broader reach. "With Catherine's help we are reaching an important demographic in the fashion world, and are hopeful to convince more to shop cruelty-free," he says.

A photo posted by catmcneil (@catmcneil) on May 22, 2014 at 10:01am PDT

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Finding these ways to reach a wide audience is indispensable in the fight to do away with animal testing. "The biggest roadblock for getting rid of cosmetic and product testing in the U.S. is the lack of awareness," says Chase. "Most people sadly think animal testing has long since been banned, [which it hasn't]." The situation is complicated further when considering a global market: In China, for example, animal testing is actually required—so large companies who are hoping to have a worldwide customer base have to adopt those practices if they wish to sell their products there. In fact, many major brands that were previously not doing animal testing have re-adopted testing in recent years in order to compete.

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On the flipside, while there are a variety of lists and resources that claim to detail "safe" brands that don't test on animals, there are some major discrepancies here as well. "Certain respected cruelty-free lists require companies to pay to be on it," says Chase. "That meant many truly amazing brands like Lush Cosmetics are often left off." Through my own experience, I have also found that many of these lists haven't updated to reflect the brands, as mentioned above, that have since reverted back to testing—misleading people to believe that they are shopping in line with their conscience when they actually aren't.

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Nevertheless, there are so many brands—far more than most people would probably realize—that don't test on animals. The lack of awareness that Chase notes isn't just about the practice of testing in itself, but also about just how easy it is to adopt a beauty routine free of animal testing. (Many might actually find that they don't have to trade out some of their favorite products; I learned this when I first overhauled my own regime.) Still, before I became relatively well-versed with the brands that do not test, there was a certain tedium that came with stepping into Sephora and Googling each and every product that caught my eye. In that sense, Cruelty-Cutter isn't just an educational tool—in our culture of instant gratification, it's a convenient one, at that. "Armed with this information at their fingertips, [consumers] just need to practice their principles when making purchases," emphasizes Chase.

And maybe that really is half the battle—a lifestyle free from animal testing does take some effort, and the idea of living a "perfectly" ethical life might be intimidating to some. (Or too much work, for others, which is understandable in our busy lives.) Take it from McNeil—as a model, she can't exactly control which makeup or clothes she dons for a job. "I just do my best to stay informed with what I'm working with," she told us. It's really all anyone can do. But with apps like this at our fingertips, it's certainly never been easier.